Bryan Cranston Was Considered For Lex Luthor In Batman V Superman

The dust is starting to settle, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is the big damned hit Warner Bros asked for over the weekend. But despite the film's success, hints of what might have been are cropping up in all sorts of conversations. Case in point is the fact that we almost saw Breaking Bad's legendary baldie himself, Bryan Cranston, playing Superman's nemesis himself: Lex Luthor.

While talking with Zack Snyder about Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice's big Jimmy Olsen cameo during the first act, Entertainment Weekly had also uncovered that the Trumbo actor was one of the possible candidates to play the film's big bad. Snyder explained the thought process as follows:

We talked about the usual suspects that you would imagine; any actor who has been bald, probably. Bryan Cranston would have been great, right? And by the way, he’s an amazing actor. Can you imagine how different the movie would be?

Before we go any further, let's just stop and think about a Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice where Bryan Cranson plays Lex Luthor, because it's a thought worth visiting. And judging by the fact that Cranston's involvement had been one of the first names rumored to be up for the role, it's clear that the notion was not a strange one. After years of playing one of the most brilliant scientifically minded villains on Breaking Bad, as well as spending a good amount of that time being bald, Cranston's winning ways could not only have brought a huge level of gravitas to the menacing villain, he would have also been legitimately terrifying.

Of course, not everything plays out the way you'd think it would in life, and those rampant rumors were dispelled the moment it was announced that Zack Snyder had found his villainous muse in Jessie Eisenberg, who coincidentally enough won the role after unsuccessfully trying out to be Jimmy Olsen. And while much has been said about Eisenberg's variation of the Lex Luthor role, it's hard not to imagine Bryan Cranston bringing Lex Luthor to life with the level of intensity he brought to Walter White in Breaking Bad. Try and imagine Lex's big scene with Lois on the top of LexCorp tower, only picture it more like the following scene from Cranston's resume:

In the end, what's done is done and Jessie Eisenberg is the guy that you now see terrrorizing Superman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. In case you haven't seen it yet, or want another viewing to fully compare his performance to the Bryan Cranston performance you've got in your head, you can do so in theaters now.